SFD Media
Release
12 Oct 2011
Police Investigates Private
Forum Under Public Order Act
Martyn See, Executive Secretary,
Singaporeans For Democracy (SFD), today spent an hour and a half at
the Cantonment Police Complex from 10am to 11.30am answering
questions pertaining to an investigation under the Public Order Act
2009 for a private forum he organized on behalf of SFD on 24
September 2011.
The forum was held at private function
room at the Public House, after the original venue administrator,
Singapore Human Resources Institute (SHRI), cancelled the pre-paid
booking by locking its venue and preventing entry to
participants.
About 30 participants then proceeded to
attend the talk at an alternate venue – Public House - after they
were informed of the change at the site of the original venue.
The forum featured Members of
Parliament, Tian Chua from Malaysia and Mu Sochua from Cambodia,
ex-ISA detainee Vincent Cheng and blogger Alex Au.
Following a phone call on 3 October
2011, Mr See received a formal notice dated 5 October 2011
requesting him to present himself to appear in front of S.
Vickneshwaran (Officer-In-Charge, General Investigation Squad
5, Central Police Division) to answer questions for the said
investigation.
The nub of the questioning surrounded
whether inviting participants through a Facebook events page and
email was a private or public activity.
This is the second time Mr See has been
investigated by the police. In 2005, See was placed under police
probe for 15 months following the banning of his documentary
'Singapore Rebel'. In 2009, See had to postpone a public forum on
the Internal Security Act (ISA) after the original venue, Bestway
Building, was visited by CID officers after the event was
publicised on See's blog. Police then called See to apply for a
permit, to which See wrote to the Law Ministry requesting an
explanation. The event was subsequently held at Quality Hotel
without any permit application.
SFD emphasizes that the forum was
organised as a private event and urge the police to cease
investigations immediately.
Dr. James Gomez
Executive Director
Singaporeans For Democracy
More information about the
forum
Video of the private
forum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyFqBitxCoo
Forum on human rights runs into
problems with venue mgmt
Andrea Ong, Straits Times website, 24 Sept
2011
A forum on human rights and democracy
organised by the Singaporeans for Democracy (SFD) political
association ran into some problems on Saturday afternoon.
The forum was to have taken place at
2pm at a Singapore Human Resources Institute (SHRI) training room
at The Verge shopping mall, but a dispute arose between the event
organiser, SFD executive secretary and film-maker Martyn See, and
the SHRI management.
Mr See, 42, said the institute's
management had cancelled his venue booking at the last minute. He
received an email from SHRI on Friday afternoon saying that his
booking was cancelled 'due to unforeseen circumstances'. This was
despite him making his booking three weeks ago and paying the fee
of around $600 in full, he said.
However, SHRI executive director David
Ang, 64, said Mr See had not stated the subject matter of the forum
in his application form. The institute's constitution states that
it is not allowed to hold events of a political nature, he added.
Mr Ang said he only found out about the subject of the forum,
titled 'Lee Kuan Yew: liberal democracy will do us in. Will it?',
when he visited a web page advertising the event two or three days
ago.
Mr See is asking for a refund of the
booking fee because of the inconvenience the last-minute
cancellation caused the speakers and audience, who had to be turned
away from The Verge. The forum was shifted to the Public House at
Circular Road at 4pm.
There are four speakers lined up for
the event: Cambodian MP and human rights activist Mu Sochua,
Malaysian MP Tian Chua, Singapore Democratic Party member Vincent
Cheng and activist Alex Au.
Both Mr Chua and Mr Cheng were former
detainees under their countries' Internal Security Act.
Singapore ‘faces pressure to
repeal ISA’, Andrea Ong, Sunday Times, 25 Sept 2011
Malaysian opposition MP Tian Chua
believes the Singapore Government is under ‘tremendous pressure’ to
follow in Malaysia’s footsteps in repealing the Internal Security
Act (ISA), he said at a forum here yesterday.
He cited two key factors: a less
fearful electorate arising from the evolution of the democratic
process, and historical links between both countries’ uses of the
ISA.
Mr Chua, who was detained for two years
from 2001 under Malaysia’s ISA, was speaking at a forum organised
by the Singaporeans for Democracy (SFD) political association.
‘The ISA experience through these 40
years in Malaysia and Singapore is a process of the nation
overcoming our own fears and phobias,’ said Mr Chua, 47, a Parti
Keadilan Rakyat MP.
On democracy in the region, he said
Singapore and Malaysia used to practise ‘Asian-style democracy’
where the state provided economic success and citizens allowed it
to have near-total control.
That was the environment which produced
the ISA, he said.
Now, however, ruling parties have to
reform and fulfil the people’s demands if they want to stay in
power, he said. In Malaysia, the awakened electorate has become
less fearful as more dare to speak up. He said: ‘The discourse has
changed. I’m not surprised that finally (Malaysian Prime Minister)
Najib (Razak) had to stand up.’
Singapore and Malaysia’s uses of the
ISA have also been ‘interlinked’, he said. The ISA in both
countries has roots in the 1948 Emergency Regulations passed by the
colonial government to fight communists.
Said Mr Chua: ‘When the Malaysian
regime acknowledged the ISA is anti-democratic… Singapore cannot
resist. It will have to react, maybe faster than we can
imagine.’
The Singapore Government has said it
will not repeal the ISA as it ‘continues to be relevant and crucial
as a measure of last resort’ to keep the country safe and secure,
it said in a statement last week.
It also said Singapore’s ISA has
evolved and is now different from Malaysia’s in having additional
safeguards to prevent its misuse.
Another speaker was Singapore
Democratic Party (SDP) vice-chairman Vincent Cheng, a former ISA
detainee and one of 16 signatories of a recent statement calling
for the ISA to be abolished.
He spoke of his detention in 1987 as
part of an alleged Marxist conspiracy and said he had been beaten,
placed in a cold room, and forced into a false confession.
The two other speakers at the forum,
attended by about 50 people, were Cambodian MP and activist Mu
Sochua and blogger Alex Au.
Mr Au said human rights and the rule of
law must be in place before democracy can take root.
SFD executive director James Gomez
yesterday announced that the association wants to explore the
possibility of forming a coalition of political parties,
non-governmental organisations and individuals to champion the
abolishment of the ISA here.
The forum, which was meant to be held
at a Singapore Human Resources Institute (SHRI) training room at
The Verge shopping mall, had to be moved to Public House in
Circular Road at the last minute.
Organiser and SFD executive secretary
Martyn See said that was because SHRI e-mailed him on Friday to
cancel his booking of the training room. He wants a refund of the
$600 booking fee he paid.
SHRI executive director David Ang, 64,
said Mr See did not provide his organisation’s name or the forum’s
subject matter when he booked the room. SHRI’s Constitution states
that it is not allowed to hold events of a political nature, Mr Ang
added.
http://sfd.sg/content/police-investigates-private-forum-under-public-order-act